


chase the monsters away (don't be afraid)

by alesford



Series: our family of choice [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Implied Past Child Abuse, Protective Nicole Haught, There are monsters under the bed, and lots of toy story references, learning how to parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 19:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15055922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alesford/pseuds/alesford
Summary: There's a monster under Belle's bed. It comes for her in her nightmares, and she wakes up crying, "Nicole! Nicole!"ORNicole just wants to be a good foster parent and protect and love the little girl in her care. Because she made a promise of love, security, family, and maltesers.





	chase the monsters away (don't be afraid)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wrackwonder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrackwonder/gifts).



> My found family AU for pidge is taking on a life of its own, and I saw this [**tweet**](https://twitter.com/WrackWonder/status/1011422937344290816) by wrackwonder and wanted to write her something silly and sweet. Dear wrackwonder, I hope you enjoy.
> 
> As always, all mistakes are my own.

**chase the monsters away (don't be afraid)**

_When the road looks rough ahead_  
_And you're miles and miles_  
_From your nice warm bed_  
_You just remember what your old pal said_  
_Boy, you've got a friend in me_  
_\- "You've Got a Friend in Me" from 'Toy Story' by Randy Newman_

 

“Nicole! Nicole!”

Nicole Haught has never been a heavy sleeper. She has never had such a luxury because growing up with an older sibling whose methods of torture included sleep deprivation never allowed it. Then there was university with too many 8am seminars. Followed by the police academy and its rigid schedule. Then Wynonna and Black Badge and Revenants, oh my. And now? Now she still lives in that quirky town in the middle of Nowhere, Alberta where she’s the sheriff. It’s in her job description to handle the emergencies that occur at the worst possible times.

So Nicole Haught never has been and probably never will have the chance to be a heavy sleeper. Unlike her girlfriend that’s happily snuggled beneath four blankets and deaf to the cries of an upset child.

“Nicole!”

Her instincts propel her body faster than her brain, pulling her away from the warmth of her bed and the promise of an uninterrupted night’s sleep. She grabs her duty Maglite off the bedside table and reaches for the robe draped over the desk chair for warmth.

It’s Waverly’s, she realizes as she steps into the hallway, already halfway into the garment that’s far too short in the sleeves. She swears quietly under her breath, tossing it back through the open doorway where it lands in a wad on the floor.

The bright beam of the flashlight is most definitely overkill once she clicks it on, but the only other flashlight is downstairs in the kitchen junk drawer with two dead batteries. She sweeps it across the hallway anyways before she makes her way toward the bedroom two doors down.

“Belle,” she says gently, pushing open the door with the flashlight angled toward the ground. It lights up the Toy Story themed rug that covers most of the wooden floor and brightens the room just enough for Nicole to see the little girl curled up in bed with her Buzz Lightyear comforter pulled to her chin. “Belle, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She tries to hide the sleepiness from her voice. Tries to be patient because this is the thing that she can do for Belle. This is the thing that Belle will let her do. Chase away the monsters.

Belle shakes her head, but she answers anyways, “He’s under the bed, Nicole.”

Her voice cracks as she says it, and it makes Nicole’s heart _hurt_ for this little girl that has made a home there inside her chest. Because she promised her love and security and family.

  
(Maltesers, too. But Waverly has started to ration them after Nicole came home with a bucket of them from the Costco in Calgary and ate a bowl of them for dinner.)

  
Nicole promised her love and security and family and she’s been trying. She’s been trying so hard and it makes her want to cry and scream in frustration. Because this little girl still doesn’t trust her like she trusts Waverly. Doesn’t know what to make of this woman who seems to have more love in her heart than Belle has ever known.

Because sometimes family sucks. But sometimes it doesn’t, and Nicole wants so desperately for Belle to understand that. That love doesn’t have to lead to suffering. That family — real family — will never truly leave you. That she’s safe in this house with Waverly and Nicole and Calamity Jane.

“He’s under the bed,” Belle repeats again

And Nicole frowns because the monster that plagues Belle’s nightmares isn’t the kind of monster that she’s used to fighting with Wynonna and Doc and Dolls. It isn’t a monster to be found in the books that Waverly and Jeremy continue to collect. It isn’t a thing that can be put down by a somewhat mellowed crazy chick with an old Colt Buntline.

Because the monsters in your own head? That whisper doubts and fears in your ear? Borne from bad memories and insecurities? Those are far harder to defeat.

But Nicole promised.

And so she says, “I think I know how we can get rid of him.” She settles the flashlight on the bed beside Belle, pointing it toward her feet. It casts a bright spot on the wall opposite the bedroom door. “This will keep you safe while I get the special potion.”

“Potion?” Belle asks as Nicole steps backward toward the hallway.

“To defeat the monster. I’ll be back real quick, okay? Monsters don’t like light, remember?”

Nicole knows that she could have flicked the lightswitch on and chased away Belle’s monster that way. It’s what she’s done at least two nights a week since Belle moved in with them six months ago. She knows it’s a temporary solution because the nightmares always return and the monster is always back under the bed.

And Nicole isn’t a heavy sleeper. She hears Belle cry for her and she can’t not answer. She has to try to be the hero that this little girl needs.

  
(She promised. Love, security, family, Maltesers.)

  
So she finds Waverly’s pink spray bottle on the bathroom counter. It’s filled with a concoction of water and some sort of oil that’s supposed to be rejuvenating. “Sorry, baby,” she apologizes aloud as she unscrews the top and pours it down the sink drain. “I’ll replace it, I swear.” She rinses it once, twice, and then refills it again, wiping off the excess water with the hand towel on the hook.

“I found it, Belle,” she announces to the girl as she steps back into the child’s room. “The potion to defeat the monster.”

And Belle sits up at that. The flashlight wobbles beside her, and Nicole reaches for it, still pointing it at the ground where it lights up Mr. Potato Head etched into the fibers of the rug.

“Where is it from?”

“Don’t you know that Waverly and I are friends with an Iron Witch?” she says, offering the spray bottle to tiny hands.

Belle takes it as reverently as a five-year-old is wont to doing. “How does it work?” she asks.

“Do you remember what Woody says to the bad guys?”

She sets the flashlight on the ground beside her and watches the wheels turning in the little girl’s head as she thinks through all the phrases that her Woody doll says. Nicole sees it click like a lightbulb when her eyes grow wide and she smiles, and together they shout,

                                                           “Reach for the sky!”

And Nicole lifts the little girl off the bed with a laugh, grinning as Belle giggles and holds onto the spray bottle like it’s her favorite blanket.

“Now all you have to do —” Nicole instructs, setting her charge on the rug beside her and kneeling before the bed, “— is kneel like this and pull that lever so it sprays the potion under the bed.”

Belle points at the trigger lever. “Pull this?”

Nicole nods. “We’ll do it together.” She wraps her arms around Belle from behind, resting the spray bottle in the palm of her left hand while the right curls around the two tiny hands holding onto the lever. “Ready? One… two…”

“Three!” they say, again in unison and together they send a puff of citrus-scented water into the space under the bed.

  
They stay like that for a while, Belle leaning comfortably into Nicole’s embrace and Nicole just breathing and taking in the moment. Because this feels right. It feels like maybe she did this right. That maybe, just maybe, she’ll be able to keep her promise.

  
“I think he’s gone,” Belle finally whispers, and together they lower the spray bottle to the ground. She turns in Nicole’s arms, a shy smile on her face. “You’re a real sheriff, Nicole.” And Belle wraps her arms around Nicole’s neck and it’s the first real hug that she’s received without hesitation.

Nicole’s heart soars and she can’t help but beam at the little girl in her arms, her smile brighter than the flashlight at her side.

“What else does Woody say, Belle?” she whispers, pulling the girl even closer.

“There’s a snake in my boot?”

And Nicole laughs again, a rich and delightful sound. “True. But he also says _you’re my favorite deputy_.”

The floor of the old house creaks just so, and she knows that Waverly’s in the doorway. She looks over her shoulder and sees the gentlest of smiles gracing her girlfriend’s face.

“How about some Maltesers for a late night snack, hmm?” she asks, and Belle launches herself from Nicole’s arms and clings to the leg of Waverly’s pajama pants. “I’ll take that as a yes. Why don’t you go sit on the sofa downstairs, Belle? We’re right behind you.”

Five-year-olds don’t need to be told twice what to do when there’s sweets involved. She still takes the stairs slowly like Nicole taught her to do if there isn’t an adult holding her hand. But then they can hear the stamping of tiny feet and the screech of Calamity Jane being displaced from the couch.

Nicole laughs, shaking her head as she turns of the flashlight and pushes to her feet. “How much of that did you see?”

“From you using my spray bottle to vanquish the monster under the bed to ‘you’re my favorite deputy’. It was cute. Really cute.”

It’s Waverly pulling Nicole into her arms this time, pushing up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to her lips. “You’re a fantastic foster mom, Nicole Haught.”

Nicole draws her in for another chaste kiss. “You’re not too bad yourself, Earp. Promising Maltesers at four in the morning.”

“I hope you don’t think you’re getting more than five just because you’re sweet and I love you,” Waverly says suspiciously as Nicole takes her by the hand and leads her down the stairs where there’s a little girl waiting for them with a smile and a laugh and one less monster under her bed.

  
Not all monsters are defeated by fire or a hail of bullets. Not all demons are slain by an old gun called Peacemaker. Some —

         — the worst of them, really — are defeated by standing together with the ones you love.

 

 


End file.
